The Epistle To the Galatians

Introduction

Paul writes to a series of churches in the Roman Province of Galatia located in Asia Minor, what we know as modern Turkey.  Galatia was comprised of two different areas: northern Galatia, inhabited by a Celtic people who had migrated from Gaul, which is modern day France, and southern Galatia, located around the Eastern shores of the Mediteranean Sea. There is no record of Paul founding churches in the northern area, while he did establish churches in southern cities such as Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe.

Why did he write?  To counter the false teachers, the Judaizers, who were undermining the central NT doctrine of Justification by faith.  These teachers ignored the decree issued by the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15: 23-29), and spread their dangerous teaching that Gentiles must first become Jewish proselytes and must submit to the Mosaic law before they could become Christians.  Paul wrote to defend what he knew to be the true doctrine on justification by faith alone and warn these churches of the consequences of abandoning that essential doctrine.

Issues surrounding this letter: first, those who teach the false doctrine of baptismal regeneration (you must be baptized to be saved) support their view from 3:27.  Second, others have used this epistle to support their attacks on the biblical roles of men and women, claiming that the spiritual equality taught in 3:28 is incompatible with the traditional concept of authority and submission.  Third, those who reject the doctrine of eternal security argue that the phrase “you have fallen from grace” (5:4) describes believers who have lost their salvation.  Finally, many believe that Paul erased the line between Israel and the church when he identified the church as the “Israel of God” (6:16).

Chapter 1 – Only One Gospel

Paul greets the Galatians by first emphasizing that he is an apostle, appointed by Jesus Christ Himself and God the Father. 

1. How does he defend the gospel he teaches?   (A) His greeting cuts right to the chase when in verse three he says, “Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.”  This countered the Judaizers legalistic teaching: if salvation is by works as they claimed, it is not of “grace” and salvation cannot result in “peace” since no one can be sure he has enough good works to be eternally secure.
2. Why is v. 4 significant to Paul’s stand on justification?  (A) Christ gave Himself for our sins because no sin can be avoided by human effort or law keeping (Rom. 3:20); therefore it must be forgiven, which Christ accomplished by His atoning work on the cross.
3. Does “this present evil age” (1:4) apply only to the time in which Paul writes?  (A)  No. It does not apply to a period of time, but to an order or system, in particular, to the world system ruled by Satan.
4. What does the “the will of our God and Father” (1:4) refer to?  (A) It refers to the sacrifice of Christ His Son for salvation and was designed and fulfilled for His glory (John 6:38-40; Rom. 8:3,31,32; Eph. 1:7).
5. The Galatians shocked Paul by their quick turning from the truth.  Do you know anyone who has accepted Christ and then just as easily turned their back on Him?  Discuss v.6 –“you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel.”  (A) This could be translated “who called you once and for all,” and refers to God’s effectual call to salvation (Romans 1:7 where it refers to some as being called to be saints – His effectual calling, or drawing to Himself all those He has chosen for salvation (Rom. 8:30; 2 Thess. 2:13-14; John 6:44).  Grace is God’s free and sovereign act of mercy in granting salvation through the death and resurrection of Christ, totally apart from any human work or merit.  “A different gospel” referred to what the Judaizers added to the gospel, that is, the requirements, ceremonies, and standards of the OC as being necessary for salvation.  There can be no “additions”; the Word of God is complete.  Cults add-on to His holy Word.
6. What is the “gospel of Christ” and how were the Judaizers perverting it?  (A)  The gospel is the Good News of salvation by faith alone through faith alone in Christ alone.  They were trying to destroy the message of grace by turning the message of God’s undeserved favor (grace) toward sinners into a message of earned and merited favor.
7. When Paul says, “For if I pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ” (1:10), what does he mean?  (A) In Paul’s earlier life as a Pharisee, he tried to please men by persecuting the Christians and living to the law, but now he is a willing slave of Christ – exactly the opposite behavior.
8. How does Paul verify the gospel he teaches?   (A) VV.11,12 – the gospel he teaches was not human in origin or it would have been like any other human religion, full of works righteousness, which reflects man’s pride and Satan’s deception. The Judaizers received their religious instruction from rabbinical tradition, as did most Jews who never really studied scripture and depended on human interpretation as their authority and guide.  The problem was that most of their traditions were not taught in the Scriptures; instead they used human interpretation as their authority and guide.
9. VV.15,16 are rich in showing how God’s sovereign will works.  How so?  (A) V.15, “ But Paul, that is, when it pleased God, who called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me.”  This shows God’s Perfect plan for Paul: He chose him without regard for his personal merit or effort.  Not only was Christ revealed to Paul on the Damascus road, but in him as God gave him the life, light, and faith to believe him, as He does for all who are called.

Chapter 2 – Defending the Gospel

Paul mentions his fourteen years of ministry between his first visit to Jerusalem and this visit, probably the one mentioned in Acts 15:1-22.  This ministry was primarily to the Gentiles, as Christ had instructed, and on this visit, he brought along Titus, his fellow servant in Christ.  In answer to the claims of the Judaizers, the Holy Spirit revealed to Paul to visit the Christian leaders in Jerusalem in order to refute the claim that they sent Paul to Jerusalem.  Paul hoped that the Jerusalem leaders would support his ministry to the Gentiles.

1. What were the circumstances surrounding the Judaizers claim (v.3,7)?  (A) At it’s core was the Mosaic tradition and covenant of circumcision (Gen.17:9-14; Romans 4:9-12, that is, there could be no salvation without circumcision.  The significance of the presence of Titus was living proof that circumcision and the Mosaic regulations were not prerequisities for salvation.
2. The Judaizers claimed that Paul was teaching a deviant gospel.  Who does Paul say worked effectively in his and Peter’s lives?  (A) The “HE” mentioned in v.8 is the Holy Spirit who has but one gospel to teach.
3. What message does v.5 leave you with?  (A) “But we refused to listen to them for a single moment.  We wanted to preserve the truth of the Good News for you.”  The message?  Never give up your position of salvation by grace alone through faith alone!
4. What was Paul’s complaint against Peter while in Antioch?  (A) VV.12-14 – While Peter ministered in Antioch, he would eat with the Gentiles (forbidden by tradition), but when Jews from Jerusalem came to town, he separated himself from the Gentiles.  This meant that Peter declined invitations to eat with the Gentiles and instead ate with the Judaizers, and meant that Peter was affirming the very dietary restrictions he knew God had abolished (Acts 10:15).  This hypocrisy extended even to Barnabas. 
5. With what question does Paul confront Peter (vv.14-16)?  “When I saw that they were not following the truth of the Good News, I said to Peter in front of all the others, “Since you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you trying to make these Gentiles obey the Jewish laws you abandoned.?    
6. How then does a Jew (or a Gentile for that matter) become right with God?  (A) “Not by doing what the law commands, but by faith in Jesus Christ.  God accepts us because of our faith in Christ Jesus, not because we have obeyed the law.  For no one will ever be saved by obeying the law (v.16).”  There is no other way!
7. Paul summarizes the problem for us – If the Judaizers were right, then Christ was wrong and had been teaching people to sin because He taught that food could not contaminate a person (Mark 7:19; Acts 10:13-15).  He also declared that all who belonged to Him are one with Him and therefore each other (John 17:21-23).  Peter, because of his actions, had in effect made it appear as if Christ was lying.
8. Paul now declared one of the greatest truths in Scripture – that we have died to the law so that we might live to God.  His marvelous statement concludes, “I have been crucified with Christ.  I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me (2:20).”  When a person trusts in Christ for salvation, he spiritually participates with the Lord in His crucifixion and His victory over sin and death.  The believers “old self” is dead, having been crucified with Christ.  The believer has the honor of the indwelling Christ empowering him and living through him.  Who did He give Himself for?  Me!  The point of the statement is that through His death on the cross, Christ made a total change in His relationship to all things, especially all that applies to the Law of Moses.  It was for Christ, a complete break with this life.  Why?  Because He had perfectly fulfilled the law: we have utterly failed.  But for both, the law is no more.  Paul was always afraid that in spite all of his faithful observance of the law; he might not be able after all to win God’s favor through it.  Now, as he sees the cross of Christ, and realizes all the work of love and grace that was necessary to save him, he understands that he was right after all.  No work on his part could ever save him.  Christ is the sole meaning of life for him now; every moment is passed in conscious dependence on Him.  This truly is the Christian faith; the faith in God’s Son Jesus, linking the cross with the will of the Father, who loved Paul, and gave himself for Paul (for us too!)

Chapter 3 – Justification by Faith

Paul knows that the Judaizers will attack his position and again attempt to discredit him, and the gospel he teaches, so he now turns to OT Scripture to defend his position.   Up until now, Paul argued from his own spiritual experience and the facts of Christian history.  Now he will show that this experience is not just a “feeling’ but is grounded in the eternal purposes of God as revealed in His Word.

He is shocked that the Galatians should so quickly give up their faith.  He asks them if a magician had cast a magic spell on them?  Paul’s preaching of the true gospel of Jesus Christ was as visible to them as if it had been posted on a giant billboard.  The false teachers wanted to add human works to the one time work of Christ that provides eternal payment for believer’s sins.

1. He asks the question, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit by keeping the law (v.2)?”  How did they receive Him?  (A) “Of course not, for the HS came upon you only after you what? Were baptized?”  Where circumcised? Spoke in tongues?  Obeyed the law?  No, only after you believed the message you heard about Jesus Christ!”  Saving faith is granted when hearing the gospel  & believing (Rom. 10:17).
2. In rebuttal to the false teachers’ demand that Gentile believers must be circumcised, Paul asks in amazement if the saving work begun by the indwelling Holy Spirit would now be finished in the flesh?
3. How does Abraham’s experience coincide with that of the Galatians?  (A) What Abraham did, they did.  Abraham, like the Galatians, had believed God, trusted God’s word – and God accepted that faith, that trust, and God declared him righteous for it (v.6).  By using the example of Abraham, Paul shows us that there has never been any other way of salvation than by grace through faith.
4. Who are the true spiritual children of Abraham (v.7)?  (A) All believing Jews and Gentiles are the true spiritual children of Abe because they follow his example of faith. 
5. Why are those who depend on the law under God’s curse?  (A) Scripture says, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all these commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law (v.10).”  Impossible!
6. How did Christ’s death on the cross redeem us from the curse of the law?  (A) The Greek word for redeemed was often used to speak of buying a salve’s or debtor’s freedom.  Christ’s death, because it was a death of substitution for sin, satisfied God’s justice and removed God’s wrath toward His elect.  His death purchased believers from slavery to sin and from the sentence of eternal death, which is the curse for sin.
7. VV.15-18 - His promise is changeless, an everlasting covenant made by God to Himself, with Abraham and his Seed (which in its deepest sense is Jesus Christ).  Even the Torah, the law given on Mt. Sinai to Moses, could not annul this holiest of covenants.  It was eternal (it provided eternal blessing), it was irrevocable (it will never cease), unconditional (it depended on God and not on man), but its complete fulfillment will be at the salvation of Israel and the millennial kingdom.
8. What was the law’s purpose?  (A) How would one understand his guilt before a holy God unless he had some parameters against which he could measure himself?  How would one know that he was unable to save himself and needed a Savior?  Was it meant to last forever?  No, only until the Messiah appeared, the promised Seed to which the promise was made.
9. Is there then a contradiction between the law and God’s promises?  (A) They are not at opposite purposes.  God gave them both and He does not work against Himself.  The law reveals man’s sinfulness and his need for the salvation freely offered in the Promise.
10. How can we receive God’s promises if not by obeying the law?  (A) Paul makes it very clear throughout all of his epistles that the only way to the promise of salvation and eternal life with God is by believing in Jesus Christ as Savior.  The law was our tutor, our escort which, by showing us our sins, was escorting us to Christ.
11. V.27 says “All who have been united with Christ in baptism have been made like Him.”   Is water baptism indicated here?  (A) How can anything to do with actual water make us like Christ?  It cannot save!  Paul uses it in a metaphorical manner to speak of being “immersed,” or “placed into” Christ by the spiritual miracle of union with Him in His death and Resurrection (Romans 6:3-5).
12. If indeed we are made like Him, then being united with Him cuts through all the physical, social, economic, and cultural barriers put upon us by man – we are one in Christ and now all of the promises God gave to Him belong to us!

Chapter 4 – In the Fullness of Time

Paul continues his analogy of a child’s coming of age, contrasting believer’s lives before salvation (as children and servants), with their lives after salvation (as adults and sons.)

1. What is “our coming of age?”  (A) Our coming to saving faith in Christ.  Prior to that time, we were slaves to man made religions filled with laws and ceremonies that attempted to achieve divine acceptance.
2. What is meant by “when the right time (the fullness of the time) came (v.4)?”  (A) In God’s time, when the exact religious, cultural, and political conditions demanded by His Perfect plan were in place, Jesus came into the world.  At exactly the right time, God sent His only Son into the world to bring all who believe out from under the constraints of the law and to adopt us as His children.
3. V.4 tells us that God’s Son was “born of a woman, subject to the law.”  How is this significant?  (A) That the Father sent His Son into the world speaks of His pre-existence in heaven.  “Born of a woman” speaks of His full humanity, not merely His virgin birth.  Jesus had to be fully God for His sacrifice to be of the eternal worth needed to atone for sin.  He needed to be fully man so He could take upon Himself the penalty of sin as the substitute for man.  “Subject to the law” meant that He was obliged to obey God’s law, but unlike anyone else, He was the only One able to perfectly obey it.
4. Why has God “sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts (v.6)?”  (A) To confirm to believers their adoption as God’s children.  This is our assurance of salvation, a gracious work of the Holy Spirit, not anything we can ourselves accomplish.
5. V.9 – “And now that you have found God (or should I say that God has found you.)”    We can know God only because He first knew us, just as we choose God because He first chose us (John 6:44).
6. Discuss the meaning of the two covenants Paul mentions in vv.24-31.  (A) Paul uses the history of Abraham, the two women Hagar and Sarah, and their sons, Ishmael and Isaac, and two places, Mt. Sinai, the earthly Jerusalem, and the heavenly Jerusalem to contrast the two covenants.  Hagar, Ishmael and Mt. Sinai represent the Covenant of the Law, the Mosaic Covenant, while Sarah, Isaac and the heavenly Jerusalem represent the Covenant of the Promise.  The purpose of the Mosaic Covenant was only to show all who were under its demands and condemnation their need for salvation by grace alone.  It was never meant to be used as a way to salvation.  Sarah represents the heavenly Jerusalem whose citizens are free from the Mosaic Law and its works and bondage.  Just like Isaac who received the promise made to Abraham, believers receive God’s promise of redemption and are acceptable to God because of their faith.

Chapter 5 – Freedom In Christ

“Christ has really set us free!”  “Make sure that you stay free.”  Believers are delivered from the curse of the law that sentences sinners trying to achieve their own righteousness – don’t fall back into the same trap and become salves once again.  Paul objected to the Judaizers claim that circumcision was necessary for salvation.  He did not object to circumcision itself because it was a physical symbol of a clean heart and was a reminder of God’s covenant of salvation promise (Gen. 17: 9,10).

1.      What does Paul mean when he says “if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ (v.4)?”  (A) Any attempt to be justified (be made right) by the law is to reject salvation by grace alone through faith alone.  When one is exposed to the gracious truth of the gospel and then turns his back on Christ (Heb. 6:4-6) and seeks to be justified by the law, he is separated from Christ and loses all hope of God’s salvation.  Their desertion of Christ and the gospel only proves that their faith was never genuine (1 John 2:19; Luke 8:13,14).

2.      V. 6 says that it makes no difference whether we are circumcised or not.  Obviously not everyone is circumcised or desires to be.  What does he mean?  (A) Nothing done in the flesh, even religious ceremony, makes any difference in one’s relationship to God.  That which is external is immaterial and worthless, unless it reflects internal righteousness (Romans 2:25-29).

3.      What is “following the truth (v.7)?”  (A) A believers true way of living, including both their response to the gospel of salvation and their obedience to the Word of God in sanctification (the daily living out of the gospel as the HS works in their lives).

4.      What does verse 10 say to you about the assurance of salvation?  (A) Paul trusts in the Lord that He will never let one of His own go (John 6:37-39, page 899).  It is a divine promise from Christ and is the will of the Father that all whom the Father has given to Christ as His own, none shall be lost.

5.      V. 13 – To what freedom have you been called?  (A) As far as the East is from the West, so our freedom in Christ is from what the world considers freedom to be.  In this age, freedom is interpreted as one’s personal right to do as he or she pleases and feels right to them.  It is all about “me!”  V.13 says “not freedom to satisfy your sinful nature, but freedom to serve one another in love.”  This challenges almost everything that this world stands for today.  

6.      How does one “live according to your new life in the HS (v.16)?”  (A) We as believers all have the presence of the indwelling Spirit as our personal power to live a life pleasing to God.  The word in the Greek means to “walk” in the Spirit, indicating a continuous action and implies progress.  As a believer submits to the Spirit’s control (by responding to the commands of Scripture), he grows in his spiritual life.  Every part of us responds - physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  Take your choice!  Either live a life directed by the Spirit, or live a life in slavery to the law.  You can’t have it both ways.

7.      Everyone is guilty of at least some of the sins mentioned in vv. 19-21.  V. 21 tells us “anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”  We have been talking about the assurance of salvation; does this verse contradict assurance, as some believe it to mean?  (A) The key word is “live” meaning a continual, habitual action.  Those whose basic character is summed up in an uninterrupted and unrepentant lifestyle practicing these sins cannot belong to God.  These sins “of the flesh” are presented in 3 areas of human life: sex, religion, and human relationships.  When seeing these sins listed, it strikes one as  how easy it is to fall into almost every area mentioned.

8.      Thank God that He has blessed believers with His Holy Spirit who controls our lives.   To what degree He is allowed to control depends on us.  How might one describe the fruit (singular) of the Spirit?  (A) MacArthur describes it as: “Godly attributes that characterize the lives of those who belong to God by faith in Christ and possess the Spirit of God.  The Spirit produces fruit which consists of 9 characteristics or attitudes that are linked with each other and are commanded of believers throughout the NT. The first attribute of this fruit is agape love, that God centered love that refers to respect, devotion, and affection that leads to willing sacrificial service. Without love, the other attributes would be impossible to put into practice.

Chapter 6 – Bear and Share the Burdens; Reaping What We Sow

Paul issues a call to true believers who walk in the Spirit should “gently and humbly help that person who stumbles and sins, helping that person to get back on the right track (6:1).”

1.      Talk among yourselves about how you can “bear one another’s burdens (v.2).”

2.      What is “the law of Christ?”  (A) To love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself.  Note that this is the law – a command, not an option.

3.      The NKJ tells us “to examine his own work” (v.4).  Why?  (A) Believers should first make sure their own lives are right with God before giving spiritual help to others.

4.      It sounds like v.5 is a contradiction to v.2.  V.5 tells us to carry our own load, while v.2 tells us to carry one another’s burdens.  Is this a contradiction?  (A) The “load” of v.5 does not mean to carry about some difficulty in life.  It refers to life’s routine obligations and each believer’s Ministry calling.

5.      V. 14 – “As for me, God forbid that I should boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Why would he boast of Christ’s cross?  (A) The Greek word for “boast” is a basic expression of praise, unlike the English word which includes in it’s meaning the emotion of selfish pride.  Paul glories and rejoices in the sacrifice of Jesus, made for us.